Realme 12 Pro 5G First Impressions

Realme 12 Pro is the latest smartphone from Realme to hit the Indian market. It was launched alongside the Realme 12 Pro+ on January 29. The new handset has an improved camera setup and a new chipset but looks identical to the Realme 11 Pro from last year, at least from the front. One of the key selling points of the newly launched handset is that it has been designed in collaboration with a luxury watchmaker. This is very much evident in the rear camera island. Here are my first impressions of the Realme 12 Pro after having used it for a few days. For the Realme 12 Pro series, the Chinese smartphone maker has partnered with Ollivier Savéo for the design. Savéo is a well-known French luxury watchmaker who's collaborated with brands such as Rolex. The phone is available in Submarine Blue and Navigator Beige colour options. I received the Submarine Blue variant of the Realme 12 Pro.

As soon as I unboxed the smartphone, I realised what Realme was talking about. On the rear panel, it has a large circular camera module, which has elements usually found in a luxury watch. There's a golden bezel that runs around the circular module, and it gets a polished blue sunburst dial. The dial reflects light to create a spectacular gradient that a watch enthusiast will find pleasing. A golden stitching element is also found on the back panel, running at the centre from top to bottom. The Realme 12 Pro 5G also has a vegan leather finish rear that gives it a premium look and feel. It has a curved rear and front glass panel, giving the impression that the phone is slimmer than it is. The in-hand feel of the phone is really nice. There's also a good weight to it, making it feel premium. The frame is still plastic, but it has a gold coating that matches all the other golden elements on the phone. The buttons are all placed on the left edge and easily reachable. Realme has included dual stereo speakers, a dual-SIM card tray, a USB Type-C port, and two microphones on the smartphone.

On the front, the phone has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with full-HD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The display curves around the edges, but not too much, and you get slim bezels all around. It's a good-looking display, and I reckon it'll be great to watch videos and movies and play games on this panel. There's no Corning Gorilla glass protection here, though, but it does offer some kind of high-strength glass over the display. The panel can get as bright as 800 nits, and it supports ProXDR visuals. You also get an in-display fingerprint scanner and a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera located at the top centre.